Post Details

“Ayuda’s Holistic Services Saved My Life”

Mary*, a survivor of childhood assault, fled violence that had engulfed her home in Central America and immigrated to the United States in 2016. Anxious to begin a new and better life, Mary settled in quickly and fell in love.

Mary and her boyfriend welcomed a beautiful baby in 2017 and soon after, moved to D.C. to live with Mary’s cousin. Mary thought she had left violence behind her, but sadly, she was terribly mistaken.

During her first few months in D.C., Mary frequently experienced physical and sexual assault at the hands of her boyfriend. The abuse escalated, putting her child in harm’s way. Mary’s cousin had seen enough and threw Mary, her child and her boyfriend out.

With nowhere to go, Mary and her small child went to a temporary shelter. An onsite case manager referred Mary to Ayuda in the fall of 2017.

Abused, desperate and alone, Mary immediately found the support she needed at Ayuda’s walk-in clinic for those that have been victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Ayuda’s Domestic Violence and Family Law Attorney immediately helped Mary file a Civil Protection Order (CPO) against her child’s father.

Ayuda’s social services team stepped in to help Mary obtain food, therapy and access to transitional housing so that she could begin to recover from her abuse in a safe stable environment. With her new-found stability, Mary was able to enroll in school.

Because of donors like you, a year and a half later, Mary has completed her GED certification, has full custody of her almost three-year-old child, and looks forward to receiving her Early Childhood Education Certificate this fall.

However, our work is not done.

Ayuda’s immigration legal team is helping Mary to apply for a U-visa and our social services team continues to provide Mary with therapy to help her deal with the trauma she has experienced.

For their safety, security and well-being, all Ayuda staff, interns and volunteers will be teleworking until further notice. We will continue to support our clients during this difficult time, but we need your help.

Your gift today will help fund our critical work to provide quality legal services, comprehensive social services and language access services to low-income immigrants in D.C., Virginia and Maryland.

In a time of social distancing and isolation, it is more important than ever that we come together and let the most vulnerable in our community know they are not alone.